Cross Country Runs at NCAA West Regional on Friday
11/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
MALIBU, Calif. " Select members of the Pepperdine cross country teams will run at the NCAA West Regional Championship, hosted by the University of Washington, on Friday.
The meet will be held at the Jefferson Park Golf Course in Seattle. The women's 6K is at noon, followed by the men's 10K at 1 p.m.
Pepperdine will have one of 32 men's teams in the field. The Waves' runners will be junior Ben Fox (Colorado Springs, Colo./Cheyenne Mountain HS), sophomores Nick Blanchard (Portland, Conn./Portland HS) and Rudy Gonzalez (Whittier, Calif./California HS) and freshmen Nick Heath (Scotts Valley, Calif./Scotts Valley HS) and Trevor Sytsma (Renton, Wash./Liberty HS). On the women's side, only seniors Katie Engel (Honeoye Falls, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima HS) and Mariah Gondeiro (Raynesford, Mont./Belt HS/Rocky Mountain College) will compete.
"This is a great opportunity for our top athletes to go up against the top runners in the western region," Pepperdine Coach Robert Radnoti said. "Everybody is really excited about it. We've been training a long time for this opportunity. I believe we're going to race very well."
It's the first time the men will run a 10K. Heath was the Waves' top runner at all five of the 5Ks and above this season, including a 39th-place finish at the West Coast Conference Championships the last time out. Engel was Pepperdine's top runner on the women's side at all five races of 4K or more, and she came in 28th place at the WCC Championships.
